It's Not Rocket Science!
by houndoomandgloom
Summary: Karen is the illegitimate daughter of Giovanni—a criminal heiress set to make her mark in the ranks of Team Rocket. Will is just another weapon meant to bring glory to the team. When the two teenagers are assigned as partners at Rocket Academy, they quickly find themselves bound by something deeper than the villainous ties they share. Masakudo/Snazzy/ChoosenShipping, Jaciana.
1. Prologue

_**Author's Note:** Hi everybody! So I honestly wasn't planning on starting a series right now, but I couldn't help but give into this bunny. Thank you all so much for your reviews and support on my other stories, you all make me smile every day even when things are hard. I wanted to give a special shout-out to my beloved BFF jacejosujura, who has listened to me ramble about this venture for the past few weeks and even came up with its amazing title. I love her and her writing, and you all will too! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy this adventure. _

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><p><em><strong>17 years ago...<strong>_

Some called it the eternally green paradise, a town walled by forests and trees. Viridian City really wasn't much of a city at all, just a small community nestled into the eastern edge of Mount Silver. It was a safe haven in an uncertain world, a quiet place where time seemed to move at a slower rate. Even the Viridian Gym wasn't heavily trafficked. Few trainers ever stepped through its doors, though plenty of other bodies came and went. They were surely friends of the leader, a quiet man that never caused any trouble. At least, that's what the people of Viridian City thought.

Their ignorance made Giovanni chuckle.

He made his way through the familiar streets, his dark hat tipped over the tops of his eyes. His wife, Ariana, followed closely on his boot heels, their young son in tow. An eerie calm settled over Viridian: It was long past dusk, and theirs seemed to be the only movement in town. Giovanni wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary tonight. This was just a quick trip, a passing stop to check on the Pokémon he kept housed at the gym before they returned to headquarters for the evening.

He'd just started to walk up the stairs that led up to his gym when he caught sight of it. There was something there, an object in the shadow of the gym's high arching entryway. Giovanni halted his wife with an extended hand and gingerly ascended the steps. His fingers closed around one of the six Poké Balls he kept tucked in the lining of his jacket pocket. If this _thing_ was of any concern, his Nidoking could crush it quickly.

"Dad?" Silver called after his father, his little voice barely a whisper. Ariana shushed him, and he hid his face against the side of her leg.

It looked like a basket, though the blanket thrown over the top of it made it hard to tell much more than that. There was definitely something in it—the fabric moved slightly, and it wasn't from the cool breeze that floated through the air. As he drew nearer to it, he could hear a soft sound coming from under the material. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. There was only one way to find out.

Giovanni grabbed the soft fabric by one of its corners and yanked it away, revealing a small baby underneath the covering. She looked to be a newborn, no more than a few weeks old. Her pale skin and sky-colored hair reminded him of winter, his favorite of the seasons. His expression softened, and he released the grip he'd kept on his Poké Ball.

"Giovanni?" Ariana's voice rang out from behind him, a sudden reminder that he wasn't alone. "What is it?"

"A child," Giovanni said, crouching down on level with the basket. There was something else there, a note tucked beneath the blankets that wrapped the baby's body. He slipped a hand behind her head and claimed the piece of paper. She reached for him, but he disregarded her as his eyes scanned the elegant handwriting. He read it once over, twice, and then a third, willing the letters to rearrange themselves, to make different words, to write a different story. Giovanni squeezed his eyes shut in frustration and his fingers curled into balls, crushing the letter and the memories that came with it.

"What the hell is going on? What do you mean?" Ariana's voice rose along the stairs with her. She stopped at the top, her breath catching in her throat. Silver gasped excitedly and lurched forward, wanting to run to the child; Ariana gripped her son's hand even tighter, as if keeping him from something dangerous. "Giovanni?"

"She's _my_ child, Ariana."

She scoffed. There was no reality to his words at all, no semblance of a chance that it could be true. This was a trick, obviously, a play to swindle money out of the region's wealthiest couple. "That's impossible," Ariana said, but her husband's expression told her otherwise. Her chest felt tight. "That's _impossible_, isn't it? Isn't it?"

"No."

She made a choking sound. Angry tears flooded her eyes, but she wouldn't dare let them fall, not here, not in front of her child. The screaming and the sobbing would come later. Now, she just needed an escape. "We're leaving," Ariana hissed, "Now."

Giovanni didn't acknowledge her. The wrinkled paper in his hand fell to the ground and he took the baby in its stead, raising to his full height with her in his arms. She squirmed at first, but settled quickly in the curve of his arms. She felt practically weightless, fragile like the little princess dolls displayed during Girls' Day every year. He felt something strange swell in his gut, an urge to protect this little thing that could never fathom the storm her mere existence brewed.

"What are you doing?" Ariana's voice came out in a snarl.

"I can't just leave her."

"You can't just keep her!"

"What would you have me do, Ariana?"

"Dump her off at an orphanage! Leave her here, I don't care! I'm not raising some whore's little—"

"Take care how you speak of my daughter." Daughter. The word sounded so strange in his mind. He hardly knew what he was doing with Silver half the time, but he was his son, his heir, his miniature. He didn't come with instructions, but thank Arceus he didn't really need them. A little girl, though? How could he possibly raise her?

It wasn't uncommon for Silver to hear his parents' voices raised with anger. If they weren't yelling at each other, it was at someone else, some grunt who'd screwed up a mission or a scientist whose experiments came short of spectacular. The noise still frightened him, though, and he shrunk behind his mother's legs.

The little bundle in his father's arms squirmed and whimpered, then broke into a sob. It was more of a scream, actually, and for a moment Silver wished his parents really would leave the baby there on the doorstep. Then he wondered if she was scared, just like he was, and he decided to try being brave instead.

He wriggled his little hand out of his mother's grasp and scampered to where his father stood. He teetered on the tips of his toes, as if the extra inches could account for the several feet that separated him from his father.

Giovanni shifted the infant to the crook of one arm and easily hoisted Silver up with his other. The little boy peered at his new sister curiously and she stared back at him with big, watery blue eyes. A gurgling sound replaced the tears, and she reached out to touch her big brother's face. Silver smiled at her and she tried to smile back—at least, that's what he thought she was trying to do. It was a toothless, lopsided kind of grin, and she spit up on herself in the process. He laughed.

"She's cool, dad. I like her. What's her name?"

Sometimes Giovanni mourned that Silver would one day lose that innocence. A name was the last thing on his troubled mind, but he supposed she did need one. A few possibilities danced in and out of his mind, but none of them sounded right. There was one, though, one he disregarded over and over but found himself coming right back to again.

Even in her dying hours, the relationship between Giovanni and his mother was hostile at best. But she possessed every characteristic he would ever want for his daughter, every value he was taught to hold high. She was intelligent, driven, a confident and capable leader. Her name ghosted his lips, then he cleared his throat and uttered it aloud.

"Karen."


	2. Situations Change

_**Author's Note: **Hi everyone! I am very sorry that it's taken this long to update. I planned on chapter one quickly following the prologue, but I had an unforeseen school emergency. I have a lot of schoolwork coming up so things might be a little slow, but hopefully not THAT slow again! Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter! I would also like to thank my precious BFF jacejosujura for reading over this and being my impromptu beta! Go check out her stories, she's the best. _

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><p><em><strong>Present Day<strong>_

"KAREN!"

The teenager jumped at the sound of her name bouncing off the walls. It wasn't unusual for her stepmother to be screeching for her. In fact, Ariana had exactly two speaking styles when it came to Karen: yelling and talking very, very loudly. Whatever it was this time, apparently it was deserving of the first. Karen was pretty sure that was a new note for Ariana's high voice.

_Whatever_, she thought, _It can wait. I have a battle to win. _

"Use Double Kick, Reina!" Karen cried out loud. Her Nidorina bounded several feet forward then volleyed into the air. Her pale blue body did a corkscrew; her outstretched feet connected once between the curve of the boulders that bound the opposing Onix's head to its body, then struck the same spot again. The great snake roared as pain surged through its body. The Nidorina landed on all fours and threw her head back in celebration. Just like her trainer, Reina was just getting started.

"Good job!" Karen couldn't keep from laughing at her Pokémon's little display of confidence. "Now, use Crunch!"

A smile tugged at her lips as she watched her Nidorina's mouth gape open. She charged at one of the spaces in between the Onix's segmented body, fangs bared.

Dark-type moves intrigued her, but not as much as the Pokémon of that type. When she was younger, she filled up her notebooks with doodles of Sneasel and Murkrow; now she studied them in the spare time she could find. She had only one dark-type of her own: Salem, the Houndour that ignited her passion like the embers her Pokémon brewed in her mouth. The Houndour stood beside her now, the skull-shaped crest of her head brushing the tips of Karen's fingers. They were inseparable—they had been since the day Silver helped her catch the Pokémon some twelve years before.

Dark-types like Salem reminded Karen of the beauty of night itself. She'd always favored it: the sinking of the sun and the slow climb of the moon, the stars that sprinkled the sky, the sense of calm that settled over the world. It was her sanctuary, a place of comfort and...

The sound of Onix crying out wrested Karen from her reverie. The massive Pokémon swayed fitfully, and for a second the trainer thought her battle was won. Then, just before certain victory, it barely managed to right itself. Not a problem.

"All right, Reina, now use—"

"Enough!" Ariana's boot heels clicked angrily against the floor as she stormed toward the teenager. She'd been watching the fight from the doorway, and the little patience she had had finally worn thin. "The battle is over," she said, flicking her hand in dismissal at the grunt her stepdaughter had challenged. He bristled under the executive's harsh gaze and recalled his Pokémon quickly, then left the training area with as much haste.

Ariana's eyes followed him until the metal doors swooshed to a close behind him. Then, she rounded on the girl.

"What the hell were you thinking? That was pathetic!"

The rush of battle faded fast from Karen's face. "What are you talking about? I was winning!"

Ariana scoffed. That was the other sound Karen was accustomed to hearing when her stepmother spoke to her. "Winning," she echoed as if it were a joke worthy of repetition. "Your Nidorina easily could have finished that Onix with another Double Kick, but you used Crunch. Why?"

"We were just having fun."

She couldn't determine if it was anger or bewilderment that made her stepmother's face crinkle. "Pokémon battles aren't for fun, you foolish girl."

Karen closed her eyes for a second, willing the momentary blackness to grant her some sense of patience for this woman. She hated the word 'stepmother,' because it implied that she and Ariana shared some kind of maternal bond. 'Drill sergeant' would have been more accurate.

She wondered, distantly, if her real mother would have treated her this way. More than once, she'd dreamed about the sound of her voice, the blue of her hair, the shape of her smile, the lull of her voice. It was always calm and gentle, nothing like the way that Ariana snarled. Karen liked to imagine she would have loved her. But then Ariana's voice rang in the back of her mind, mocking the very thought. She was just the bastard child, the product of lies and blackmail left on the front steps of the Viridian Gym.

All she ever felt from Ariana was contempt. Karen couldn't remember exactly when she made the distinction that she wasn't Ariana's by blood, but it was early. Her stepmother didn't much relish protecting the innocence of childhood. In Karen's most forgiving moments she tried to reason that having a visible reminder of your husband's affair living in your house wasn't the easiest thing to deal with, but it was hard to extend sympathy to the devil. She felt daily the need to remind Karen in some way or another that she wasn't Ariana's child. As if she would ever want to be!

Silver made everything worth it, though. He was her brother, her best friend, her protector. He was the one who always made her feel worthy, the one that helped her cause trouble and taught her how to be the trainer she was today. Since childhood she'd been able to defeat adults in battle, and she had his guiding hand to thank for that.

Her relationship with her father wasn't as bad as it could have been, either. Giovanni was a very powerful, very busy man. It wasn't that he was a terrible father as much as it was that he didn't know how to be one. Karen knew he loved her, just as he loved Silver. It wasn't a boastful love, and it wasn't one that she could feel all the time—but she knew it was there. And as much as Ariana hated it, there was no denying that she was his child.

Physically, she recalled him poorly. Karen was short and pale where her father was tall and tan. Her eyes and her hair were colored like the springtime sky, his both the blackness of a cold winter night. She was definitely Giovanni's, though. Her stature was not reflective of her intimidation tactics; Karen could render a noisy room mute with little more than her presence, and a taste of her anger could clear it. There was an air of arrogance about her, in everything from the self-assurance that gleamed in her eyes to the way she carried herself, her head held high and her long hair tossed over her shoulders. She was prideful, self-centered, and why wouldn't she be? She was the heiress to an empire, the princess of crime.

Truthfully, she was more like the red-headed woman standing before her than either would ever care to admit.

"_Are you even listening to me?_" Ariana snapped. She'd been prattling on about how Giovanni didn't give a damn about how much fun she was having, but Karen only heard a couple of words here and there.

"Nope," Karen chimed. She reveled in the way Ariana contorted her face, the way her fingers formed little fists.

"You're going to training academy with the rest of the grunts."

"_Excuse me_?"

"You obviously don't know the first thing about being a Pokémon trainer, much less a capable member of Team Rocket."

Karen felt angry tears start to sting her eyes. "I win every battle. My Pokémon are stronger than any of the others, I—"

"You haven't even evolved your Nidorina yet!" Ariana snapped.

Reina gave a disapproving grunt and Karen, blinking madly, fumbled for her Poké Ball and returned her into it. She did have a Moon Stone; her father had given one to her and one to Silver when he gave them their twin Nidoran for Christmas. But she kept it in the drawer of her bedside table, carefully folded between some pieces of fabric. She didn't believe in evolving a Pokémon just because its body was capable. She waited until what she felt was the right moment, until its heart and soul were ready, too. She didn't expect someone as ruthless as Ariana to understand that. "I want to strengthen our bonds first," Karen said, her voice quiet but firm.

"Your bonds? You idiot girl, this is Team Rocket! You aren't training to become friends with your Pokémon, you should be using them as weapons!"

"My Pokémon are strong because I trust them!" Karen shot back. "And they trust me. They aren't just tools. They're my partners."

A smug look settled on Ariana's face, as if Karen had answered a question that she'd never asked aloud. "And that's precisely why you're going to Rocket Academy."

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><p>The walk home wasn't a long one. Karen waded through the crowded streets of Celadon City without once looking up, Salem padding faithfully beside her. She had never strayed far from this place, her parents made sure of that. It might have been been born out of some genuine concern on Giovanni's part, but for Ariana, it was more about keeping the identity of Team Rocket safe. Karen and Silver were breathing liabilities, living threats to the organization's secrecy. If the wrong person knew Giovanni had children, they would be made targets for kidnapping, ransom, maybe worse. That was why Silver taught her to be so strong. He couldn't always be there to keep his baby sister safe, and he needed to know that she could hold her own when he wasn't.<p>

Karen heaved a sigh and shoved her hands deeper in the pockets of her long, black coat. She didn't know what she would do without him. Silver never attended Rocket Academy, so the longest she'd ever been apart from him was a couple of days. Leaving home, if only for a few months, was a terrifying idea. She barely knew the outside world. Anything apart from the base, the gym, and the Celadon mansion they called home was completely foreign to her.

In the richest city in all of Kanto, mansions weren't too hard to come by. Theirs was made distinct by the large, marble Persian statues that guarded the front gate, security cameras hiding beneath their ruby eyes. Karen hesitated long enough for the stone guardians to recognize her, then slid between the gates and made her way inside.

She was greeted by the faint hum of the television and a soft, feminine voice emanating from it; she recognized it quickly as that of DJ Mary, the Johto radio host her brother had a deep fondness for. Karen rolled her eyes and rounded the corner of the living room. Sure enough, Silver was on the couch sipping a soda pop, entranced by an interview on the big screen.

"Hey, Romeo. Is Dad here?"

"What? Oh—no. He's checking up on the game corner in Goldenrod. Profits have been down, even though business is up. I'm pretty sure some poor chump is about to get his ass beat." He looked surprised when Karen didn't laugh, or even crack a smile. "You look blue, Blue."

Karen smiled a small smile. "Clever, Red," she murmured, sinking into the couch next to her brother.

"What's up?"

"Your mother is sending me to Rocket Academy so I can be a better agent," she said bitterly. Her head was spinning still, and the details Ariana had rattled off to her were a blur of words that didn't all make sense. Karen knew she'd be partnered with some other kid, depending on how well she performed. Academy courses lasted anywhere from a few months to a year or more, depending on how quickly and how adeptly they were completed. And she would be leaving at the end of the week.

Silver frowned, his thumb brushing over the power button of the remote control. "You don't need to go through the academy, though. You're a damn good trainer. You're as good as any of the agents we have now—hell, you're better!"

"Yeah well, tell Ariana that, because she won't listen to me." Silver tried to speak again but Karen just shook her head. Sitting just made her stomach feel tighter, so she stood up and wandered to the opposite end of the living room, where a wall-length aquarium stretched from one side of the room to the other.

Giovanni kept the aquarium stocked with rare and brightly-colored water Pokémon: a trio of Feebas, some Corsola, and a particularly mischievous Horsea that Karen had once trained to squirt ink all over her stepmother's pretty white dress. Most of them were prized trophies from successful heists. A few were precious gifts from individuals trying to gain favor with the man behind the red 'R.' Never had anyone actually bribed their way into Giovanni's trust, but he made use of their attempts all the same. Then, there were the Magikarp, ever common and dull, utterly out of place in the miniature sea of rare water-types.

They were only there because Silver and Karen once "saved" two of the fish Pokémon from a street vendor. They came in Poké Balls plated in gold-colored plastic, and Ariana very nearly hurled them into the nearest puddle when the children toted them home in chalk pails. But Giovanni entertained their rescue efforts and allowed the Magikarp to be placed in the tank alongside his more showy water-types, much to Ariana's displeasure. They'd grown and mated over the years, and though the original two Magikarp had long since outgrown their living room enclosure, generations of their descendants still thrived in the living room aquarium.

Karen pressed her face against the tank and smiled, just like she did when she was little. The glass was cool and comforting, a welcome reprieve to her flushed cheeks. The smallest of the Magikarp swam up to her, its mouth moving rapidly in hopes of some food pellets.

"Tell me something," Silver said. He walked to where his sister stood and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "Do you see the potential in that Magikarp?"

"Everyone can see the potential in a Magikarp, Silver," Karen sighed, Her fingers curled into her palm and she rested her knuckles against the glass. "Even a novice trainer knows how powerful a Gyarados is."

"But power isn't what matters the most to you," Silver said. "You could have evolved Reina as soon as she evolved into a Nidorina. Why didn't you?"

"You sound like your mother."

"Come on. I'm being serious."

Karen shrugged. "A Pokémon's strength goes deeper than that. Strength and weakness, that's just sentiment. Forming a bond with your Pokémon and trusting them, that's what creates real strength. If you just evolve your Pokémon and there's no substance to your relationship with them, what does it matter?"

Silver laughed. It was astounding to him that she didn't realize how extraordinary she was, that she got through her spiel as if it were common knowledge. "That's why you're special, Blue. You get that when no one else does."

"But this is Team Rocket. All Pokémon exist for our glory." The sound of those words on her lips made Karen feel sick. She closed her eyes for a moment and drew in a deep breath. "We would be so much stronger if we just worked together."

"Maybe things will change someday." Silver spoke out of comfort, but his heart knew his words to be lies. It would never change. It would never change. If it weren't for Karen, he would have left this place years before. Giovanni planned him to be his successor and truly, he wanted no part of it. But he couldn't leave, not without her. She was the burden he was all too willing to bear, the beautiful shackle that bound him to this life. He sighed and pressed a kiss to the crown of his sister's head. "A few months from now, you'll be home and everyone will know how special you are. Dad will be so impressed, he'll retire and leave us in charge. I'll yell at the grunts and you can sit in Dad's chair and intimidate people."

Karen laughed for what must have been the first time that day. "Do I get a Persian? Actually, I want a Meowth."

Silver snorted. He would never understand this obsession with cat Pokémon she shared with her father. Giovanni's snooty Persian couldn't stand Silver, but he slept at the edge of Karen's bed every night. He thought about it for a moment, and a smile crossed his lips. "As soon as you're home, I'll get you something even better. Promise."


	3. Paths Crossed

_**Author's Note:** I hope everyone has been enjoying ORAS, and that you've had a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving! As always, thanks so much to the incredible jacejosujura for being my beta, my best friend, and my co-captain on all of our wondrous ships. I hope you enjoy the chapter!_

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><p>Karen willed the week to pass slowly, but it yet defied her. It came and went in what felt like the length of a breath. She sunk against the passenger's seat of her brother's car, her legs slung over the leather of his dash, her fingers knitted amongst Salem's coarse, black fur. Silver's navigational skills had spared them some time and racked up some miles on his sleek little coupe, but they were here now, and Karen knew she couldn't hide for much longer.<p>

Unlike most of the Rocket-owned buildings with their low exterior profiles, the academy flaunted its purpose. A large red 'R' was situated on the school's front, surrounded on either side by large windows that spanned three floors. Given the building's surroundings, it could afford to be boastful. The academy was located deep in the lush forest that ringed Mt. Silver on the Kanto side. It would be nothing short of a miracle if anyone actually managed to stumble onto the place without specific directions to do so. Of course, Giovanni was not the type of man to leave anything to fate: for any unfortunate soul who came upon the property uninvited, there were grunts on constant patrol to ensure it would never happen again.

"Staring the place down isn't going to make it go away, Blue," Silver said. Laughter teased his words, but his heart was heavy, his chest tight. He wasn't ready to let his sister go yet, especially not like this. "Are you ready?"

"Nope." Karen heaved a sigh and flung the door open, allowing Salem to hop out first. The wide length of steel nearly cracked into the obviously less expensive car next to Silver's. He said something that didn't register over the noise of the storm in her mind. Nervous wasn't the right word for what she was feeling right now, because Karen thought herself invincible, above petty things like worry and fear. She was annoyed, unsettled, downright _mad _that she was being uprooted from the only life she had ever known. And for what? _I don't need this place. I'm already better than they are_, she thought bitterly.

She came around the back of the car to face her brother. He seemed even taller than normal; the several-inch pumps Karen preferred wearing had been replaced by standard issue boots with maybe a half-inch of height to their heels. "This is so stupid," she sighed, smoothing her hands over the deep burgundy of her uniform. She tried not to dwell on how much she hated the color.

One of Silver's hands brushed her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "You remember what I told you?"

The corners of Karen's mouth twitched into a smirk. "Don't play nice with others?"

"I'm being serious, Blue," Silver said. His voice was soft, but firm, and his eyes didn't once abandon hers. "There's trainees in there who know who you are, who our dad is, and their only goal is going to be to get close to you or to crush you. You don't need them."

"They're going to assign me a partner, you know."

Though Karen longed to work alone, Team Rocket preferred to keep its agents in duos or even trios. Barring any gross injury or expulsion from the organization, partners assigned to one another in Rocket Academy would remain paired together for the rest of their career. A small multitude of factors helped determine how partners were assigned, ensuring that the most capable agents were paired together, and that teams were well-rounded.

On the first day of training, recruits would go through a series of tests. They would engage in exhibition battles and be quizzed on everything from type matchups to survival skills. Strengths and weaknesses would be closely evaluated, and by sunset, the agents would be matched together based on their performance results.

"They want us to treat our Pokémon like tools, right? That's all your partner is: a means to an end. Don't trust too much. Don't get too close."

Karen just nodded, and Silver placed a quick kiss amongst the sky-colored waves of her hair, a wordless reminder that this ordeal would be over soon. He then bent to one knee, leveling himself with his sister's Houndour.

Salem and Silver shared a bond of their own. He was the one who proved himself in battle against the dark Pokémon. He was the one who placed the Poké Ball in his baby sister's hands and helped guide her arm to capture the Houndour she dreamed of having. "You've got to take care of her for me, okay girl?"

"She always does," Karen smiled to herself, running her fingers over the curve of Salem's skull-shaped crest as the Pokémon licked at her brother's face. Silver stood to his full height and her expression evened somewhat. They wouldn't idle in the parking lot much longer.

"When we walk in there, I want you to keep your head up. Don't look at any of them. Look straight ahead, like everyone here is beneath you."

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"Well, you are kind of short…" Silver grinned, narrowly dodging a swat of his sister's hand.

The automated doors swooshed open as they walked into the building. The lobby was packed with people and Pokémon. Karen's light eyes glanced the crowd in quiet survey. Most of the trainees looked to be her age or within one or two years of it, but she knew she was beyond them in skill. A few kept their Pokémon outside of their Poké Balls, like she did Salem, and she wasn't impressed with what she saw. Raichu, Poliwrath, Victreebel—all Pokémon that evolved through the use of special stones, all of them robbed of the potential they had in their earlier stages. These were trainers who only wanted to climb through Team Rocket's ranks, not ones who actually cared about the true strength their Pokémon. They lacked either the patience or the desire to raise their Pokémon the right way, to wait for the right moment to evolve instead of forcing it as soon as possible.

"Your mother would love it here."

"Too bad we couldn't have sent her instead," Silver said, and the siblings shared a smile. He'd kept a hand on Karen's shoulder until now, when his grip went suddenly lax. "Karen, do you see that girl over there?"

"What happened to not looking at anyone?" Karen scoffed. Her eyes followed her brother's gaze to a teenaged girl with a Squirtle in her arms. She was small, about the same height as Karen but of even smaller build. Her hair was long, brown, and her eyes the exact color of sapphires. She looked out of place, somehow. The uniform she wore was strangely simple for a Rocket: a sleeveless black dress with a high collar, black ankle boots, and white gloves. It wasn't just the outfit, though. Karen could read the discomfort on her face from across the room, and a small part of her wondered if someone forced her to be here, too.

Silver took a shuddering breath. "You've got to get me her number."

"Are you serious right now?" Karen rolled her eyes. "Arceus, Silver, you're such a man whore!"

"Just look at her, Blue! That's the one. That is the girl that I'm going to marry."

"Uh-huh. And my future husband is in this room," Karen sighed. She tipped onto the tops of her toes and kissed her brother lightly on the cheek. "I'm going to go, okay?" There were too many people here who knew who they were. The noise of the crowd was a dull hum of voices, but she occasionally caught the sound of her name, followed by wonderings about how Giovanni's own flesh and blood could end up here with the rest of them. She wanted desperately to escape into tomorrow, when she could prove herself to them all.

"Karen—"

"I'm okay. I'll miss you, but I'm okay."

Silver pulled her into his arms, one hand curving around the back of her head, holding her against him. "I'll try and visit when I can," he murmured, "And remember, I'm going to have a surprise waiting for you when you come home. It's just a few months away."

Karen nodded, burying her face against her brother's chest for a long moment. "I love you, Red."

"I love you, Blue."

He pressed a kiss to Karen's forehead and offered her a smile that she at least tried to return. She knew from the building tightness in her chest that she wouldn't be able to hide her emotions if she stayed with him longer, so she turned and quickly walked away from her brother. She walked with purpose, but her hands were shaking, and she curled them into fists in hopes that the crowds she waded through wouldn't notice. She could feel their eyes on her, their lips forming her name, and her whole body felt tense.

Karen didn't even realize she'd been holding her breath until she'd crossed to the other side of the foyer. She wasn't completely alone here, but the majority of the crowd remained gathered up front, so at least she could keep to herself. At least, that was the plan, until the sight of him stole the breath from her lips.

He sat by himself in the corner, his eyes closed. He clearly wasn't sleeping, though, because three Poké Balls danced in an intricate pattern in front of his face, promenading through the air as if it were the natural thing for them to do. Karen had heard of psychic humans before, but never met one. She knew they were highly coveted by her father for their unique talents, so it didn't surprise her that the boy was here.

What surprised her was _him_. His hair hit his shoulders in rich purple strands, the most beautiful color she'd ever seen. He had on a solid black uniform: gloves, boots, slacks, and a jacket with a familiar-looking, high collar. No 'R' or any trace of that awful burgundy color, just like the little brunette that Silver was making eyes over. Karen remembered that some of Pryce's recruits were being transferred to this place from the Johto region, and she wondered distantly if they were two of his.

She'd met the man who hid behind the mask a handful of times in her youth, when she was in her father's company. Growing up in Team Rocket ensured there wasn't much that could rattle her, but something about Pryce sent chills down her spine; the ice-types he trained suited him well. Giovanni was not known for compassion, but his demeanor seemed almost gentle in comparison. If Karen had anything to be thankful for, she supposed it was that her training was not left in his trust.

She bit back the curiosity that rose in her. The room was a sea of people she would probably never speak to, and the purple-haired boy and the girl like him were just more waves in the water. Karen made to move past him, but as she did, he called out to her.

"So you're the boss's daughter."

His voice was pleasant, but his words irked her. "How do you know that?" she asked. He grinned in a mischievous way, and Karen pursed her lips, annoyed. "I don't appreciate having my mind dug through."

He raised his arms in false surrender, the Poké Balls twirling still above and around his head. The pattern had changed somewhat since Karen first spotted him, and now they weaved higher and higher before dropping back down to the floor and going up again. He was putting on a show.

"Wow, paranoid. Who said I did anything to your mind? Everyone has been talking about you," he said. "It's Karen, right? Pretty name. Mine's Will."

_I don't remember asking, _Karen thought, just as he chuckled. His laughter was as beautiful as his voice, but it unnerved her, too. Was he reading her thoughts?

"What's Giovanni's kid doing in a place like this, anyway?"

"It really isn't any of your business," she snapped.

"Sorry, just trying to make friendly conversation. It isn't every day that I get to talk to a girl as beautiful as you."

"How can you tell I'm beautiful from the backs of your eyelids?"

Will took that as an invitation. His eyes fluttered open, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, he gasped audibly at the sight of her. He lost his concentration; the Poké Balls he'd been juggling plummeted, two of them striking the ground and the third smack in the middle of his head. The balls cracked open, and brilliant light issued from their insides. The largest of the white-colored bursts came to form around a Slowpoke, who smiled blankly as a growl left Salem's lips. His other two Pokémon were twin Natu. One landed on Will's knee, the other nested on top of his head where her Poké Ball had landed.

"I'm sorry to disappoint," Karen said. She was trying not to laugh, but the sound was evident in her voice. The boy's face flushed as pink as the Slowpoke at his feet, and he scrambled to try and gather the Poké Balls that lay scattered around him.

"No, I-I… you're… _Arceus_."

"Afraid not," Karen chimed, and this time a giggle escaped her. It felt freeing to laugh, so much that the sound seemed almost foreign on her lips. There hadn't been much to smile about these past few days, so she supposed she owed something to the psychic. He'd made her time here brighter, if only for a few moments.

In his hurry to collect his Poké Balls from the ground, Will clipped one of them with the tips of his fingers and it rolled toward Karen. They reached for it at once, and their hands brushed against each other. She could feel his warmth through his gloves, and the shockwaves it sent through her were startling.

Then, her eyes glimpsed his for the first time. They were colored just as his hair, that rich violet that made Karen's heart trip over its usual beat. The left had a strange milkiness to it, and it didn't follow hers the same way his right did. An odd feeling gathered in her stomach. There was scarring around it, obviously fresh. Whatever afflicted him wasn't something he had been born with, and she had no idea why it bothered her so deeply, or why his closeness made her feel like the very blood in her veins was on fire.

Will didn't need to use his powers to know what she was thinking. He quickly straightened to his full height, brushing a few fingers through the left side of his hair, causing a few strands to fall over his blind eye. He quietly returned his Pokémon—Mirabella the Slowpoke and the twin Natu, Sonata and Toccata—to their Poké Balls.

"I-I didn't read your mind," he stammered. "I don't like to without having permission first."

Karen offered a slight smile in thanks. The safety of his mind must have provided some hell of a confidence boost, because she would have never guessed the cocky psychic and this stuttering teenager were one in the same. "Where are you from?"

"Oh, um, Mahogany Town. It's in Johto."

Karen nodded her head. That was where Pryce resided, where he raised his recruits in secret, beneath his guise as the old, kind gym leader. She was beginning to think she was right, and if she was, she was sure that whatever happened to Will's eye had happened there. What she wasn't sure of was why it mattered so much to her. She'd known people to receive far more grievous injuries by her own father's hands, and those hadn't weighed on her this much.

She wanted to reach out of him, to ask him more. There was a reason why Silver teased that she loved Meowth and Persian so much because she shared their natural curiosity. It was his voice that rang in her head now. _You don't need them. Don't trust them. Don't get too close. _

"I guess I'll see you during evaluation tomorrow," Karen said. She wasn't sure of that, but there was a tiny part of her that hoped she would.

"Yeah," Will said quickly. She started to move away from him, and he called to her over the sound of his heart drumming madly in his ears. "I-I'm glad I met you, beautiful. I-I mean, K-Karen, I'm glad you're…" he heaved a sigh and framed his face in his hands. She stole more than the breath from his lungs. She robbed him of his ego, of the confident mask he hid behind. She made him feel something that he was sure Pryce taught him to stamp out long ago, to suppress because it made him weak and vulnerable.

"I'm glad I met you, too, Will," Karen cut him off with a smile, and Will felt the color drain from his face.

If this was weakness, he wasn't sure he wanted to be strong anymore.


	4. Training Daze

Karen escaped to the safety of her quarters as quickly as she could. It felt insulting to even call the four thin walls that surrounded her a room. The luxury she lived in at home made her think this place was better suited for an inmate. She supposed it was appropriate, then, because she felt as trapped as one.

She lounged on the top mattress of the bunk bed for a while, her light eyes fixed on the ceiling. Thinking back on the week's events was dizzying, so she tried her best not to dwell on the spiral of circumstances that had led her to Team Rocket Academy. Really, she didn't want to think about _anything_. She longed for her mind to be blank, her thoughts to be clear, but Will made that an impossibility.

Karen sighed. Her thoughts of him were pleasant, but maddening. She couldn't place what it was about him that intrigued her. His eyes haunted her, his voice rang in her head like the sweetest melody she'd ever heard. She couldn't assign reason to why she couldn't chase him from her thoughts. It was like a magnetism between them: she was drawn to him as naturally as her body drew breath. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before, and it both excited and unnerved her, because the very idea that Karen Voss could need or want _anybody _was ludicrous.

She wasn't the type of girl to pine for anyone, nor had she ever been. She was fiercely independent. The only people she had ever allowed herself to lean on were her father and brother. She didn't trust easily. It wasn't because she had ever been burned, but because she had been taught to never let someone close enough for the opportunity. The empire that was Team Rocket had been built not on trust and compassion, but on cunning and ruthlessness. Relationships were fostered not for emotional benefits, but for political gain and bodily pleasure.

Trust, though, that was out of the question.

Perhaps that was what made her thoughts of the purple-haired boy so jarring. Hadn't she been warned not to trust anyone here, to use these people like the kinds of tools Team Rocket made Pokémon into? _That's all your partner is: a means to an end. _Karen shifted uncomfortably as her brother's words bounced around in her mind. Will wasn't even her partner—he wasn't anything! He was a beautiful stranger, and he would never be anything more to her. But still, she couldn't escape him: his face, his eyes, the way he stumbled over his words and his feet when he looked at her…

At some point during her reverie, the fine line between reality and imagination blurred, and her thoughts of him became her dreams of him. Her body was fitful; she twisted and turned to try and find a place of comfort on the unforgiving mattress. Her mind, though, was at ease, for the boy with the purple hair drifted in and out of it all night, and curved a gentle smile onto her soft lips.

The waking hours were not so kind to her. The blinds that hung over the window did little to actually keep the sun in its place, and light filtered into the room as soon as it climbed over Mount Silver. Karen tried to roll onto her side in escape; the floor served as a hard reminder that this wasn't the king-sized bed she was used to. She hissed a curse as she pushed herself into a sitting position and shook away the stinging feeling from where her hands struck the ground. Salem hopped down from their bunk and padded over to her trainer, giving her a thorough sniff and a concerned look. Karen reached out to her with a light touch.

"I'm okay, sweet girl," she cooed, her fingernails scratching the spaces behind her pointed ears. Her Houndour licked her face in appreciation, and Karen smiled. If she had anything to be thankful for, it was that she still had her Pokémon with her. The four of them would surely prove to be her sanity in the coming months.

Karen glimpsed the clock and drew in a quick breath. Thirty minutes until the first round of tests began. Her stomach gurgled in reminder, and she mourned the burger she'd shoved in her brother's direction yesterday, when the anxiety of coming to this place made her belly sick. The cafeteria breakfast was worth trying at least once, she decided, and so she gathered herself up off of the floor.

She shimmied out of her nightclothes and pulled on her uniform of dull burgundy, then collected her long hair into a ponytail. She spared herself a glimpse in the mirror and chewed at her lip. She'd tried disregarding this day, tried writing it off as a bunch of stupid tests and challenges that she'd pass with ease. The reality was it was much more important than that. The higher Karen placed, the higher her chances were of moving out of the academy quickly. Topping the score charts meant that she might be able to go home that much sooner, to see Silver and her father and the scowl on Ariana's face.

"Let's do this, girl," Karen said as she spun from the mirror and made for the door, Salem at her boot heel.

* * *

><p>The morning was full of of written tests and long-winded lectures, but these moments—the lulls between classes—were the ones that Will hated the most.<p>

As bodies spilled from the various classrooms and into the main lobby, he felt the familiar pressure at his temples as his mental shields strained. Will had mastered his telekinesis well enough, but his telepathy still needed work. He was decent at communicating with others mentally, but he struggled with keeping unwanted thoughts out. He'd meant what he said when he told Karen that he didn't like to read minds without permission first, but sometimes the barriers that held back his power wavered and he gained unwanted glimpses into the minds of those around him.

_Karen_. The melody of her name eased some of the tension in Will's head. He'd glimpsed her earlier in the morning, a flash of sky-colored hair around the corner that made his heart miss a beat. She seemed to have that effect on him: his heart, feet, and tongue all faltered in her beautiful wake.

She did something to him, made him feel something that he was sure he'd been taught not to. He had no name for it, but it was oddly warm, like a hearth in his belly that slowly spread throughout the rest of him. She made him feel weak, and Will wasn't sure what was more startling: that she could so easily rob him of the cocky mask he cowered behind, or that he didn't care that she did.

He let out a small gasp as a set of slender fingers closed on his wrist, tethering him back to the reality he'd let himself drift from. He looked down to see Skye and her Squirtle smiling up at him. Her tiny hand squeezed his gently, a silent gesture that conveyed more than a thousand words could ever. She could always tell when his focus was slipping, when the blocks he put between his mind and the minds of those around him threatened to tumble. She was the only one who could anchor him and keep his powers from getting too out of control, and he was the only one who saw the strength underlying her soft exterior.

They were as close as siblings. For years, Pryce had tried to dissuade it, but it was a battle that his hardened heart could never pray to win. Their bond formed early, when they were taken in by Pryce within a few months of each other. Skye was only two when the man with the icy mask "rescued" her, and she didn't know her own name. Pryce took to calling her Blue because of the deep, oceanic color of her eyes, but Will knew she deserved better. He was all of six years old when he started calling her Skye, and the name stuck. His compassion for her then cemented the bond that still held strong some ten years later. Will didn't know much of family, but he knew that Skye was a part of his.

Their relationship wasn't without repercussions, however. Skye always seemed a step behind Pryce's other trainees, and her shortcomings didn't sit well with their leader. When he scolded her one day for not rivaling her peers in strength, Will stood up for his friend, and his show of courage resulted in the loss of his left eye. It took months for the burning to cease, but the blackened vision, the scarring, and the discoloration would serve as his permanent reminder that love only resulted in loss.

Guilt suffocated Skye for a while after the incident, even after Will told her it made him look more dashing. She didn't have her friend's mind-reading abilities, but she didn't need to to see past the visage of confidence he wore. Of course it bothered him. He let his long hair fall over the left side of his face most days, and she made a point to brush it away when she could. His scars reminded her of something quite different: that for the first time in her life, she had someone who would love and protect her.

"How did your tests go? Did you have to use your powers and cheat?" Skye asked, still keeping a light grip on Will's hand. He chuckled, and she smiled at the sound. Their lives thus far had built to this moment. Pryce had spent years drilling knowledge into their minds, and all the morning's teachings had just been a rehashing of information they'd known for a long time.

"I'm more concerned about battling this afternoon," Will said, and his free hand fell to his waist, where three Poké Balls lined his belt. He believed in his twin Natu and his Slowpoke, but he knew they had some distinct weaknesses, too. A dark-type trainer would devastate him. Since he finished his tests so quickly, he'd spent some of his time in the classroom examining the other trainers and their Pokémon. Many of them seemed to hail from Kanto, where dark-types weren't so common, so he felt at ease. He was more worried about Skye, who had never showed the sort of prowess he did in battle. She was strong, unbelievably so, but where she believed in her Pokémon, she doubted herself.

"You're the strongest trainer I know, Will. You'll do amazing. Top of the class for sure."

Will smiled slightly. One of Skye's most endearing qualities was the way she saw the best in everyone. It was that same quality that scared him the most, because it would too easy for someone with ill intent to take advantage of her. "I'm still holding out for us to be partnered together," he said. _At least I could keep her safe, then._

"I'm not stupid. You wish you could be paired off with Giovanni's daughter," Skye started, a girlish tone taking over her small voice. That teasing quality spread to the rest of her features, and she lightly jabbed Will in the chest. The edges of his ears reddened, and she giggled, "I think she likes you."

"K-Karen? No. No, no. I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm a jackass," Will said. He tried to ignore the sweetness of her name on his tongue, and the rush of heat she sent to his cheeks. "I saw the way her brother was eyeing you up, though," he said quickly, trying to turn the subject away from Karen before his thoughts of her could consume him any further. "Remember, you have to date guys that I can actually beat up, and the boss's son is definitely _not _one of those guys."

Skye's face suddenly went as red as her Squirtle's eyes, and Will breathed a laugh at his momentary victory. "You're lying," she squeaked.

"Honest to Arceus, he was checking you out. Practically drooling." Will raised the hand he'd kept at his waist in mock oath, and Skye swatted at it.

"_Will!_" Skye whined as he grinned that mischievous grin of his. "At least I didn't hit myself in the head with my Poké Balls, _master psychic_. Maybe you should keep your eyes open next time you decide to flirt."

Of course she'd seen the little show he tried to put on. A chuckle escaped him, but the noise came out sounding forced. "It's not like it matters, anyway," Will sighed. He combed a hand through the length of his hair, as if the motion could drive the thoughts of her from his mind. It was ridiculous to think that someone like Karen would ever want him, and even if she did… well, it was like he said. It didn't matter.

Skye frowned at him, and rocked onto the tips of her toes to swipe the stray strands of hair away from his left eye. "But what if it did?"

"It _doesn't,_ Skye." Will shook his head, and spared a glance to the bodies that shuffled all around them. He couldn't risk them being overheard, so he reached out to his best friend's mind instead. _You know what we have to do._

Skye opened her mouth to speak aloud, but the sound never made it past her lips. Carl sauntered up to them, a foul smirk twisted on his lips. He was the third of Pryce's trainees to be sent to Team Rocket Academy, older than Will and Skye and more ruthless than the both of them combined. Of the three, he was also the most dedicated to Pryce's ideals, and was easily the old man's favorite for his strength and obedience.

"I figured I'd find the two of you together," Carl spat. Will took a half-step in front of Skye out of instinct.

"What do you want, Carl?"

"What, you don't want to be friends now that we're out of Mahogany? I'm hurt, William," the older boy sneered. "I was just trying to make friendly conversation."

Will glowered at him. "Then make it and leave."

It was Carl that moved this time. He took a step closer, shortening the distance that separated the boys to mere inches. The size difference between them was apparent: Will was taller, but Carl's bulky frame dwarfed his slender one. "Don't think that being here means you can get away from me, or from Pryce, or from our mission," he growled. "Most of the trainers here are punks. Even you two," his dark eyes flitted between Will and Skye, "are better than the lot of them. Arceus, I don't see what's so special about Giovanni's little bitch—"

Will wasn't sure what to call the feeling that sprung up in him. It felt like fire. It burned through his veins and behind his eyes. His fingers curled into palms, forming fists, and he lurched forward. He could feel Carl's breath on him, the harshness of his gaze as it bored into his own, the bulk of his build as it shadowed over Will's lean one. "Shut up," he breathed. "You don't even know her."

Carl laughed. "And you do?"

"I know her more than you do. I know she's a better trainer than you'll ever be."

"You haven't even seen her battle!"

"I don't have to."

"Careful, or you'll lose your other eye. Then she really won't have anything to do with you."

Skye's slender fingers caught the curve of Will's upper arm as he swung it, steadying him. _He isn't worth it_, she said calmly, trying to keep the conversation to the solace of their minds. It wasn't enough, though—Carl had been trained with them long enough to know when they were speaking through the bonds of Will's telepathy.

"Better listen to your little girlfriend, William."

"You sure act tough for someone who doesn't have Pryce here to protect him anymore."

The only warning Will had was a sudden cry of 'No, Caspian, don't!' from behind him. Before he could throw another punch, a stream of water shot forth from Skye's Squirtle's mouth, drenching both Will and Carl in bone-chilling liquid. Carl hollered loudly at the sudden chill; Will coughed, swiping rain-soaked strands of purple away from his good eye.

"You stupid little—"

"Leave them alone."

He would have recognized it anywhere. The sound of her voice made Will's breath hitch. He twisted around to see Karen standing there, her light eyes trained on Carl and the Poké Ball that had expanded to fill his hand.

The black-haired boy bristled under the harshness of her gaze. She had no real power over him: he didn't care about her and he had nothing to prove to her. Her father, however, was a different story. Even humiliating Will wasn't worth the cost of losing favor with Giovanni.

"Just talking with some old friends, _princess_," Carl said, his lips curling up into their familiar sneer. A low growl escaped Salem's lips, and he regarded the girl's Houndour with a flash of his dark eyes. "I'll see you in the stadium," he said to Will, then turned his back on the other three trainers and walked away.


	5. Nothing Ventured

"Are you okay?" Karen didn't wait for Carl to leave her sight before she stepped forward. When she spoke, she ensured her voice carried. She wanted him and everyone around them to hear her support for the boy who she couldn't keep herself and her thoughts away from.

"Just great," Will sighed. He scrunched the fabric of his uniform between his fingers, wringing some of the water out. Karen's presence replaced the chill in his bones with undeniable heat, and he tried his best not to look directly at her. _Smooth, Will_, he chided himself. _First you smack yourself in the head with a Poké Ball, now you look liked a drowned Rattata. _

Skye held a gloved hand over her mouth and giggled quietly; she used the other arm to hug her Caspian close to her. It wasn't the first time Will had been on the receiving end of one of his Water Gun attacks, but it definitely ranked as one of the funniest, and it had helped them ditch Carl for the time being.

"You're Karen, right?" she chirped, drawing her hand away from her face and extending it to the blue-haired girl. "My name's Skye."

Karen smiled and gave a quick nod of her head. She would have to tease Silver with her newly-acquired knowledge later. "It's nice to meet you, Skye," she said, taking her hand in her own and shaking it lightly. Her eyes shifted back to Will, who was frustratedly dragging his fingers through the length of his water-darkened hair, trying to comb it into something that looked a little more presentable. "You know, I think I know where they keep some extra uniforms. We should get you into something warmer."

Will's cheeks pinked. "T-That's okay, I—"

"I think that sounds great!" Skye cut him off, a singsong quality lifting her voice. She pretended not to notice Will glaring at her from beneath the bangs he couldn't get to stay in place.

Karen led them down one of the Academy's many lookalike corridors. Growing up in a mansion had some distinct advantages, and quickly memorizing the nooks and crannies of a place were among them. She'd gone exploring the campus between breakfast and the day's first round of testing. The various supply closets were just some of her findings. One of them just happened to be full of spare uniforms, all that same awful maroon color that Karen couldn't stand.

Will slipped into the closet, and Karen eased back against the opposing wall. "So," she started, carefully considering her words, "are you and Will… you know, a thing?"

Skye scrunched her face as if she'd swallowed something incredibly sour. "Arceus, no!" she squeaked, shaking her head furiously. "He's practically my brother."

Karen huffed a breath, one that she didn't even realize she'd been holding. Relief spread through her like wildfire and she didn't know exactly why. It was the same encompassing warmth that she'd felt the first day she met him, when their hands brushed and he set her soul aflame. "I'll have to tell _my _brother that," she said. "He was quite taken with you."

"W-What?" Skye stammered, losing her footing a bit as the words fully resonated. Karen giggled and she caught her arm, preventing a fall. The two of them certainly acted enough like siblings, tripping over their toes and their tongues. "S-Silver, right? There's no way. Guys like that don't want girls like me."

"He seemed pretty sure. Said he was going to marry you and everything," Karen grinned. "I don't think I've ever seen him act like that over any—"

The door swung open suddenly, and the sight of Will robbed Karen of her words. It hadn't occurred to him that she would be lingering in the hallway still. He was pulling on his shirt when he realized she was staring at him, her lips barely parted as her eyes devoured him. He was thin, but his muscles were well-defined, and Karen had to swallow the urge to reach out and trace them. Then something else caught her eye, and her stomach twisted with something much fouler than desire.

A long scar came around Will's side in a crescent shape, starting somewhere on his back and wrapping around to his navel. It was lighter than the rest of his skin and it gleamed oddly, a strange iridescence that vaguely reminded Karen of the snow that capped Mt. Silver. It was unnatural, like a miniature path of ice carved into his body. And Karen was willing to bet she knew exactly who did it to him.

"W-Will?" It was her voice that shook in his presence this time. Karen took a step toward him, but he visibly stiffened, and she hesitated. Whatever it was that existed between them, she didn't want to ruin it by pushing too far. "Are you okay?"

He quickly pulled at his shirt's hem, and for once pretended that he didn't hear the angelic song of Karen's voice. "I think we should go," Will said shortly. He kept his good eye trained on the ground. He was too embarrassed to look right at her. "It's almost time to battle."

* * *

><p>Ariana thought that Karen couldn't take battles seriously, but really, it was the opposite. Pokémon battles were Karen's lifeblood, her passion, and so they had been for as long as she could remember. It was Silver who first taught her how to fight with her Pokémon. She flourished beneath his guiding hand, and by the time she was ten, Karen could easily best some of Team Rocket's most elite agents.<p>

Some chalked it up to natural talent, but even in her vainest moments, Karen knew she couldn't take full credit for her excellence. Her Pokémon were the ones doing the battles, after all. She'd tried more than once to convince her father of the greatness Team Rocket could achieve if they just shifted their thinking, but her words were met by deaf ears. Karen didn't understand why her father couldn't realize the difference truly trusting and loving one's Pokémon made, why he couldn't see the strength forged from a true bond between a trainer and his or her Pokémon.

She knew he wasn't completely indifferent. His Persian, Duchess, meant the world to him, just like Salem did to Karen. She'd seen photographs of him when he was younger, before Team Rocket molded his spirit into what it was today. He was different then. There was joy in his smile, and though the determination in his eyes was the same, there was something different about it, too. It was a spark of passion, a love not for wealth and power, but for Pokémon training and battling. It was the same kind of fire Karen saw in her own eyes when she looked in the mirror. Her father had lost his over his years at the helm of the team, but Karen wouldn't let anyone extinguish hers.

She breezed through the first of her opponents, claiming easy victories that seemed to impress the judges well enough. She'd tried her best to keep an eye on Will, or even Skye, but she hadn't seen either of them since the first round of battles began.

Karen didn't fathom she'd be facing one of them for the last match of the day.

Standing on the opposite side of the arena, Skye drew in a steadying breath. "Good luck," she mouthed, and Karen's lips echoed the shape of hers. Skye chose the first of three Poké Balls that lined her thin belt. The red-and-white sphere expanded to fill her hand and she threw it skyward. It spiraled through the air in a blur, smacking the ground and breaking apart in a brilliant display of white. The light curved to form around a round Pokémon, and slowly faded to reveal a Jigglypuff. The balloon-like Pokémon teetered happily on her tiny feet.

"You can do this, Melody!"

Karen smiled softly to herself. Skye very obviously loved her Pokémon. She claimed a Poké Ball from her waist. It was different from her others, scratched and decorated with old, half-peeled and faded stickers. The different colors spun through the air in a miniature rainbow as she threw the device across the arena. It split open and Karen's Gyarados, Lucky, opened her great maw in challenge.

She was what had become of one of the two Magikarp toted home by Silver and Karen in buckets, one of the very same Pokémon that Ariana decided was useless, unworthy of being in her home. Now, she was physical proof of what the bond between a trainer and her Pokémon could accomplish, a testament to what love and patience could nurture out of the most unlikely of sources.

Skye nodded her head, and struggled to not let her face betray the nervousness she kept swallowed. She shut out the laughter that rang out around them; it must have looked ridiculous to them, her little Jigglypuff standing before Karen's great beast of a Pokémon. But they didn't know her Melody, they didn't know what they had weathered, or what she was capable of. The referee waved his arm, signalling the official start of the match, and a small smile tugged the corners of her mouth. "Thunderbolt!" she commanded, and the crowd that had gathered around them suddenly went quiet.

Melody inflated to twice her size, and electric energy built around her. The Jigglypuff didn't look so harmless as the lightning bolt loosed toward Lucky. Karen called out for her Gyarados to dodge the attack, but the electric streak tore through the air much too quickly. It connected with Lucky's massive body, and the ferocious Pokémon roared out in pain. She tumbled from her coiled position, her form striking the ground with enough force to make the earth shudder. A curse issued from between Karen's lips and her fingers curled to make tiny fists.

"Lucky!" she cried. Her Gyarados reared her head and looked back at her trainer in understanding. She was down but not out, and her snake-like body slowly raised to a fraction of her height. "Use Aqua Tail!" Karen ordered. Lucky roared and swung her tail with momentous force. Melody shuffled to try and escape the attack, but there was simply too much ground for her small body to cover. Lucky's massive tail came down on her, hard, and Skye audibly gasped at the hit.

Melody wasn't giving up, either, not yet. She rolled to her feet heaving, but standing, and Skye beamed proudly. "Rollout!" she ordered. The Jigglypuff tucked in her feet and arms and bowled toward the Gyarados, striking against the sea serpent's middle. The Pokémon howled, and collapsed back down to the ground.

Karen's heart was racing. She couldn't lose her first Pokémon already, not even to Skye. She had too much riding on this battle. "You have to get up! Come on, I know you can do it!"

Skye bit down on her lip. She couldn't hold back, not this time. "Rollout, again!" she exclaimed, not allowing the Gyarados time to right herself. Melody assumed her same, ball-like position and twirled into Lucky just as she had begun to rise off of the ground. The attack hit with even greater force this time, and the water Pokémon buckled in defeat.

Lucky returned to her Poké Ball in a stream of red light, and Karen let out a light sigh as she clutched the sphere in her hand. "You did amazing," she murmured, replacing the device to her belt. She selected her next Pokémon without hesitation.

"Go, Beatrix!" Karen cried, hurtling her Poké Ball through the air. It split open well before it met the ground; a Haunter emerged from between the two halves, a mischievous grin stretched wide across her face.

Beatrix—Trixie, as she was usually called—was a prankster of a Pokémon, and the very first that Karen had ever caught on her own. She'd found her as a Gastly in Violet City's Sprout Tower one evening when Giovanni was visiting the Johto region on business. Karen and Silver escaped the grunts who were supposed to be keeping an eye on them so they could explore the supposedly haunted tower. When Silver tried to creep up behind his little sister and scare her, Trixie snuck up behind him instead.

He desperately denied that the incident ever happened, but Karen could still remember the sound of him screaming, and it made her giggle. She reminded herself to tell Skye the story after their battle was over.

"Trixie, use Venoshock!" Karen cried. Her Haunter moved with unparalleled speed, gliding through the air in a purple blur. A foul toxin brewed in her mouth and she spat it at Melody, drenching her in poison. The Jigglypuff wobbled on her feet, dizzy from the sludge as it coursed through her. The Pokémon cried out weakly, and finally toppled over.

"Melody, return!" Skye pressed a kiss to the top of her Poké Ball after she'd reclaimed her beloved Jigglypuff safely inside of it. She exchanged Melody's Poké Ball for the next and tossed it into the arena. It divided and its light came to form around another pink Pokémon, this time a Clefairy.

Karen smiled slightly to herself, confident that Beatrix had helped her gain the upper hand. Skye smiled right back, knowing the other girl was underestimating her Pokémon, just like all of the others did.

"Use Psychic, Luna!" Skye shouted. Her Clefairy let out a happy trill and began to waggle her arms back and forth in a strange, hypnotic motion. Purple energy built at the tips of her hands, then volleyed toward the Haunter with great force. The psychic attack struck Beatrix as she bobbed in and out of the waking world, knocking the Pokémon to the ground.

Karen grimaced, her chest going tight. Skye had obviously put a lot of work into training her Pokémon. So far each of them knew attacks that weren't easily learned by their species, and they covered her weaknesses well. "Trixie, come on, baby girl!" she cried out, and her Pokémon willed herself to rise for her trainer's sake. Her movement was noticeably hindered, and Karen knew her dear Haunter didn't have much stamina left. She would have to tread carefully with her. "Sludge Bomb!" she directed.

"Psyshock!" Skye countered.

Beatrix hovered in midair, a faint glow emanating from the curved tips of her hands. The glow burned brighter and grew bigger, taking on a dangerous shade of blackish purple. The energy turned to sludge, and the Haunter hurled it at the Clefairy. A stream of psychic power came hurtling back at her, and the attacks struck the Pokémon at the same time. Luna cried out as the poison crippled her, and swayed wearily before collapsing. Karen very nearly cried out in victory, but the noise left her as she watched her Beatrix crumple, exhausted from the attack and the fight.

The Pokémon returned to their trainers in twin streaks of red, and the girls hesitated. They both knew what was coming next. The buzz of the crowd had become but a dull roar to Karen; she could only hear the sound of her heart drumming wildly in her ears, and the low growl that issued from between Salem's lips. "You can do this, baby girl," she whispered, running her hands over the skull-like crest between her ears. Salem snorted in agreement and stepped forward, embers sparking from her mouth.

Skye beamed. She actually had a chance of winning. "You know what to do, Caspian," she said, and her Squirtle leaped from her shoulder and onto the arena. Water bubbled from his mouth, and the Houndour met him with a low growl.

"Dark Pulse!" Karen cried. A horrible aura pooled in the back of Salem's mouth, and the Pokémon released the stream of black energy with an eerie howl. It hit Caspian with startling force, knocking the Squirtle back onto his shell.

"Water Pulse!" Caspian scrambled to his feet at the sound of his master's command, though the force of the hit made him sway unsteadily on his feet. A pulsing blast of liquid shot forth from his mouth, and hurtled straight for the Houndour. Salem managed to dodge the attack just as it would have struck her, and Karen breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn't over yet, though—she'd misjudged Skye and her Pokémon before. She couldn't risk that happening again.

"Shadow Ball!" An orb of purple energy gathered between Salem's lips. The Houndour exhaled sharply and the violet ball cut through the air in an erratic motion. Caspian twisted his body and tried to escape the attack, but he couldn't outrun it. It slammed his underbelly, knocking him off of his feet again. He struggled to gain his footing again, and for a horrible moment, Skye thought their fight was already over. But he came through for her the way that he always did, managing to stand on his shaking legs, and she smiled brightly at him.

She loved all of her Pokémon dearly, but the bond she shared with him was something special. Caspian was her first Pokémon, stolen out of a lab in Pallet Town by her own hand. She wasn't proud of their origins, but she was proud of the connection she shared, and she knew that her love for her Pokémon was enough to overcome the adverse situation that brought them together.

"Water Pulse!" she called out. Again cold water filled the Squirtle's mouth and burst forward at Salem. The Houndour didn't move quickly enough this time, and she yelped as the water assaulted her body. Karen held her breath, and didn't release it until her beloved Pokémon managed to right herself. Salem's legs were quaking, but she wasn't ready to give up, not yet. She threw her head back and howled, a show of confidence that made the fire in Karen's chest burn brighter. They would win this. Together.

"Sludge Bomb!"

"Scald!"

Karen and Skye's voices rang out in unison. A streak of purple energy shot across one side of the field, blue from the other. The attacks crashed against each other, fizzling out in the middle of the field.

"Use Bite, Salem!" Karen chewed at her lip. Physical moves were not her Houndour's strong point, and letting her in such close proximity of a water-type was nothing short of risky. But Salem was tired, and she couldn't afford another attack to fail. The hits she'd taken curbed Salem's speed somewhat, but still she sprang across the arena in a blur of black and tan. She leapt at the Squirtle, clamping her fangs down on the soft skin of his stomach before he could fire off an attack at her. The water-type cried out in surrender and folded to the ground, and the referee extended his arm in Karen's direction.

She staggered back, watching the scoreboard light up with her name.

She'd won.

She'd won it all.

* * *

><p>Silver paced the floor of his father's office, a sigh on his lips. Of course he was late. He was always late.<p>

Giovanni's office was quiet, just like the house had been lately, without Karen there to fill the empty void. Silver had spent last night there alone, and already the silence was beginning to get to him. Their Celadon mansion might have been home, but Giovanni sparingly resided there. There were many nights that he never came home from Team Rocket at all, and Silver noticed that the older he got, the less he saw of his father. He hadn't seen his mother in a few days, either. She was on a business trip to Sinnoh, or was it Johto? Silver gritted his teeth. He hadn't forgiven her for sending Karen away, so he hadn't much listened when she told him where she was going. Truthfully, he hoped she would stay gone for a while.

As he made his next lap around the room, he stopped short of the portrait that hung behind his father's mahogany desk. The original Karen Voss, with eyes the color of ice and a heart the same shade, stared back at him. He regarded her picture with a slight smile. He'd never known the woman, and from what he knew of her and her reputation, that was probably for the best. But she reminded him of _his _Karen, and for now that was enough.

Silver had never been told for certain, but he was sure his grandmother had arranged the marriage between his parents. If there was love between them, he'd never seen it—lust, maybe, not even for each other, but for power. He wondered sometimes if Ariana was even capable of loving for the heart, not for the body or the pocketbooks. Really, he envied Karen's relationship with her, because at least she didn't try to pass it off as something it wasn't. At least she didn't try to forge something that wasn't there. He was Ariana's by blood, but their souls couldn't be more different. Sometimes he wondered if he was anything more than a tether to her, something that secured her place in Team Rocket's hierarchy for as long as they both lived.

He released the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and sighed, pulling his fingers through the length of his red hair. He liked to think he was different than his parents, the way that Karen was, but sometimes he wondered if he was any different from them at all. He yearned to distance himself from Team Rocket, but he craved the power that came with it. He wanted to believe that he could love someone with his body and his soul, but most nights ended with a different girl in his bed. He fit perfectly into the mold that his parents had carved for him, and he hated it.

Maybe that was why Silver couldn't stop thinking about the brown-haired girl, the one with the sapphire eyes that went right through him. He didn't know what it was about her. He wanted her in a way he'd never wanted anyone before. He wanted her whole self, not just her body—though he certainly wouldn't complain about it, either. She was more than that, though, more than just a pretty face and a slender figure. There was something about her that made him want to know her, that made him want to learn and share everything those beautiful eyes had seen. The power she had over him was crippling, impossibly so. He'd glanced her once across a room and already she made him want to be a better version of himself. He didn't even know her name but he wanted to know every inch of her.

The door suddenly swung open and Giovanni strolled into his office, his Persian slinking behind him. He raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement toward his son. Silver tore himself away from the portrait he'd been staring at for the past few minutes.

"You heard from Kare?" he asked, leaning back against the desk. He ignored the urge to ask his father about the girl with the sapphire eyes.

"The battling exhibition just wrapped up. We should be hearing of her placement soon," Giovanni said, his dark eyes considering the gold-faced watch on his left wrist. Silver only nodded, and Giovanni furrowed his brow. "Is something bothering you, son?"

Silver scoffed, and his voice took on a harsh quality as he spoke. "Yeah Dad, something's bothering me. She shouldn't be over there."

"Your mother deemed it necessary and—"

Silver cut him off. "You really trust her judgment when it comes to Karen?"

"Your sister is an incredible trainer, Silver," Giovanni sighed as he drove the heels of his palms against his eyes and rubbed tired circles against them. "She can only grow stronger. That's why the academy exists. You're quick to forget that I created much of the curriculum that is taught there."

"So why didn't I go?" Silver snapped. "If the academy is really so great, why didn't you ship me off years ago?"

"You were never meant for field work, you know that. Your skillsets are very different. Karen is far too wild to ever be contained to an office. She would get bored too quickly. She needs to be in the world, to battle, to catch new Pokémon and strengthen her old ones. This kind of life," Giovanni gestured to his lavish office, "has never been hers. Not like yours."

A small laugh escaped him. His father had always been good at assuming that his wants for Silver and what Silver _actually _wanted were one in the same. He was the heir, but it wasn't a role he wanted to fulfill. He didn't want this life any more than Karen did. "She could have stayed here with us," he said. "You could have trained her, or hell, Koga could have!"

Koga was a Team Rocket executive, the highest ranked class below Giovanni himself. He had been with the organization for as long as Silver could remember and had three children of his own: twins Josu and Janine and a second daughter, Liliana. Because they were close in age and in social status, the five of them had grown up together as friends.

Liliana was just as devastated over Karen's departure as Silver was. The two girls were as close as sisters, and just as inseparable. Their bond was such a strong one that when Silver tried dating Liliana a few years prior, he had to break it off because she reminded him too strongly of a darker-haired version of his baby sister. He still loved her fiercely, though, and would do anything it it meant protecting her.

"You know that Koga and I are far too busy to take on recruits, Silver," Giovanni sighed. Team Rocket Academy existed partly so that Giovanni and his executives wouldn't have to divide their time between recruiting and training new members and more lucrative tasks. "Karen will be fine."

"Is she safe there?"

"What?"

"_Is Karen safe_?" Silver snapped, his fingers gripping the intricate trim of his father's desk so tightly that the solid wood felt as breakable as a twig in his hands. "How do we know that the kid she gets partnered with isn't going to try and hurt her, to use her to get to you? You've protected us from the outside world our entire life, and now you let Mom throw her into it! She didn't want to go, Dad! You weren't there with her, you didn't see how scared she was. You didn't see the look in her eyes. She's too headstrong to admit she's scared of anything, but when I left her there yesterday, she was terrified. And where the hell were you? You weren't even there to tell your own daughter goodbye! Did you even talk to her at all?"

"Silver—"

"Forget it," he said. He pushed himself off of the desk and made his way to the door, never once allowing his gray eyes to meet with his father's darker ones. He shouldered his way past Giovanni, but just as his fingers curled around the door handle, the telephone rang, tearing apart the silence that had settled between them. Silver thrust the door open, but two words from his father's lips made him falter.

"Yes, Pryce?"


	6. Nothing Gained

She rolled over to find his side of the bed empty. His absence startled Cynthia awake, and she smoothed her hand over the place where Lucian should have been. The mattress was cool to her gentle touch; he'd been up for a while. She thought she knew why. She sighed to herself and ignored the sickness that had been plaguing her stomach the past few days. When he was like this, she never did eat right, so she chalked it up to her steady diet of ramen and cereal.

The clouds that colored the sky outside their bedroom window were gray. Lavender Town rarely saw the heavens painted a different color, but somehow today seemed different. Cynthia bit down on her lip until the latest roll of nausea left her, then pushed herself out of bed and padded into the kitchen.

She poured herself a mug of coffee that he'd already brewed and wandered into the living room. Her dark eyes skimmed the hallway table full of pictures. She smiled faintly at the older ones. They told the story of a beautiful family of five: two proud parents whose love for one another was eclipsed only by the love they had for their three boys. Lucian was the oldest; his little twin brothers, Jace and Will, came four years after him. Cynthia's gaze followed the pictures down the table, and her smile slowly left her lips. Five became two, and the pictures on the table became more sparse. There were a few of Jace and Lucian with their Pokémon, some of Cynthia together with Lucian, showing the evolution of their relationship over the years, and one on the very end of the three together. There was no trace of the boys' parents or of Will, nothing left of them but the marks they left on their hearts and their minds.

Cynthia remembered the day it happened with painful clarity. After all, what little girl could forget her sixth birthday party? The blonde shuddered lightly. Arceus, how she wished she could now. She'd been so excited for that day to come, and now it hung in her memory as a dark scar of the day that changed it all.

The place wasn't even in business anymore. It was in Vermillion City, one of those arcade chains where kids could play games for prize tickets and eat all the pizza they could never at home. Everyone in Cynthia's class wanted their birthday party to be held there, and she had been so excited when her parents told her. Lucian was her best friend, he always had been, so of course he and his little brothers were the first ones to get invitations. They had grown up as next-door neighbors, their parents friends since long before any of their children were born. They were at each other's houses as often as they were their own, and their parents joked that the Sullivans' three sons and the Lanes' three daughters would all end up together. That was how close they were, and how close they were supposed to stay. Until that day.

It was a Saturday. Will woke up sick that morning. Lucian had thrown a fit when he thought he would have to stay home from his best friend's birthday party because of his little brother, so their parents made a compromise. The boys' mother, Emily, took Lucian and Jace to the party, while their father, Garret, stayed home with Will. For the hours before they realized what had happened, it was the greatest day of Cynthia's life. She spent the day with her friends, piles of presents, and so much pizza in her belly she nearly made herself sick when she climbed up to the top of the roller slide with Lucian.

Emily left with her sons a little early, not wanting to spend too much time away from her sick little one. Both her twins were mommy's boys, and she knew Will would have wanted her there. Cynthia could still remember hugging her, Lucian, and Jace goodbye, and thanking them for her presents. They seemed so happy then.

Maybe that was why Cynthia couldn't figure out what was wrong when Emily called her mother on their way home. She couldn't make out any of the words, but she could tell that she was screaming, crying. None of it made any sense, and it scared her. Then they made it to their house and there were flashing lights everywhere, police cars and ambulances, uniformed men with guns and Growlithe.

Her parents tried to explain it all over the days that followed, but it made no sense in her mind. How could it? She was barely six, and suddenly the man she called uncle was dead and her best friend's baby brother was unaccounted for. Cynthia couldn't stand to look in the casket at Garret's funeral; she just hugged her arms around her father's leg and hid her face against his pants, trying to escape from the awful new reality they faced.

That wasn't even where the nightmare ended. Emily's mental health deteriorated rapidly in the year that followed. She had some psychic ability, just like her Lucian and Jace did, and those powers made her mind unravel at the seams. She refused to believe that her Will was dead. She swore that she could still "feel" him, that she could hear his voice crying out for her help. She promised she wouldn't give up on him. She wouldn't have, either, until Emily's parents, the boys' grandparents, decided her behavior didn't make for a conducive environment for their remaining grandsons to be raised in. They didn't believe that Will could have survived, and they thought her daughter's quest for him so hopeless that they had a tiny gravemarker put in for him next to his father, hoping it would cement his inevitable fate in their daughter's mind. It only infuriated her, and after she confronted her parents screaming and crying, they made the move to have her committed into a mental hospital in Lavender Town.

Lucian and Jace were shuffled into their grandparents' care after that, but the arrangement didn't last long. The same powers their mother had been gifted with became apparent in the both of them, and their grandparents were unwilling to risk the same sort of breakdown that their daughter had experienced. That was when Cynthia's own parents stepped forward and offered to foster the boys. They lived with the Lanes and their daughters until Lucian turned 18 and moved himself and Jace into their own apartment, Cynthia joining them soon after.

Their relationship was a quiet one. She knew she'd loved him for as long as she could remember, but what he and his brother had went through had such a significant effect on Lucian's capability to feel anything but bitterness. He loved her back, she knew he did. It was just hard for him to show it all of the time.

Cynthia took in a deep breath and set her now-empty cup of coffee on the table, then made her way down the hall and to the office, where she knew she would find her boyfriend. She smiled a little when she saw him there, stooped over his computer exactly where she knew he would be.

"Have you eaten anything yet?" Cynthia asked as she slid her arms around his shoulders. She pressed a quick kiss to the side of his neck and breathed in deeply, taking in the warm, sweet smell of his skin. She hated waking up without him.

"I haven't," Lucian said flatly, the way he always spoke when he was focused on something. His fingers swept the computer keyboard in a symphony of ticks and clicks. He scrolled through the archives quickly—the words and images looked like black and white blurs to Cynthia, but that wasn't anything new. She'd never been able to keep up with his reading speed.

She felt his shoulders tense beneath her fingers, and noticed he'd hesitated over a single name. _William_. It took Cynthia just a moment to realize that the only thing this man shared in common with Lucian's brother was his name, but seeing it come across the screen had rattled him nonetheless. She hugged him tighter as he removed his glasses and drove the palms of his hands against his eyes, making frustrated little circles.

"There must be something that I've missed," Lucian said quietly.

Cynthia chewed at her lower lip. She kissed his cheek and righted herself, smoothing a hand over the gentle waves of his hair. "I can make us breakfast. You need to eat something. Working on an empty stomach never helped anyone."

Of course she was right, she always was. But Lucian's stomach was already in knots, and he doubted food would sit well in it right now. "I just don't understand," he sighed. "Why haven't I found something? It doesn't make any sense."

"Because the people who did this… they're evil, Lucian. Evil doesn't make any sense."

"Sometimes I feel like everyone else has given up on him. But I won't. I can't. I can feel something, Cynthia. I can feel _him_."

"I know you can," Cynthia offered a small smile. Her lips brushed the back of his head and she hid her face there. "I believe he's out there, too. So does Jace, and so does your mom. And I believe that you're going to find him."

That was one of the things he loved most about her. Cynthia believed in goodness, in love, and in hope. Her optimism knew no bounds. Even in the most tumultuous of times, her spirit was as bright as the gold of her hair. She supported Lucian when almost no one else did. She saw in him potential, the man he could be beneath the brokenness of his soul. Maybe that was why he fell in love with her so easily, and why he felt so guilty now.

Lucian knew he wasn't giving all of himself to her. There was a yawning wound in his heart that even her tenderness couldn't mend, scars that soft kisses and time couldn't make fade any faster. He had tried to let go, to move on from the past. But whenever he did, whenever he tried to give his mind and soul away to the woman he loved, something would remind him of Will, and the memories would begin to fall yet again. He couldn't even celebrate her birthdays the way she deserved to have them celebrated, and he hated himself for it.

Sometimes he could go weeks, even months without searching. But it always came back to this: hours spent slouched over books and articles, a cold cup of coffee on the desk, a worried girlfriend who desperately wanted to return the light to his life. She was patient with him, more patient than he thought he deserved.

_I love you_, Cynthia whispered to his mind, the one place where she knew she could always get through. That was another talent of hers: she could always tell when she was losing him, when the thoughts were too much for his overactive mind to process. She would call out to him with her beautiful melody, and draw him back to her.

"I love you, too," Lucian said quietly. He twisted halfway in his chair and cupped her cheek with his hand. He leaned up and softly brushed his lips across Cynthia's own. She kissed him back, hard and hungry, as if the very world beneath them depended on the anchor of their kiss. The passion she met him with was startling, and he drew away from her with a shuddering breath. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Cynthia put on a small smile and pressed a second kiss to his lips, this one lighter, less urgent. "I'll bring your breakfast in here," she said, and Lucian nodded.

A tiny gasp escaped her when she turned away from him, and she blinked away the tears that he couldn't see gathering in her eyes. She fumbled for the cell phone she'd stuffed away in the pocket of her robe, and waited until she'd made it back to the kitchen before she called him. She drummed her bare foot impatiently against the tile, and sighed in relief when his voice came over the other end of the phone.

"Can you come home for a little while, Jace?"

* * *

><p>Silver let the door fall close and turned to face his father. He didn't even want to be in the same room with him right now, but if this call had anything to do with his sister and her progression at Rocket Academy, he decided he could stand his presence a few minutes longer.<p>

"Ah, Giovanni. I trust you're doing well?"

Pryce's gravel hard voice filled the room, and Silver felt ice slide down the length of his spine. He'd never trusted the man, never felt safe in his presence. He'd only been around him a handful of times throughout his youth, but each encounter left him feeling uneasy. He didn't like the way his dark eyes always seemed to be leering at him, and more importantly, at Karen. There was something off about the Rocket mastermind that cowered behind the front of Mahogany's kind, old gym leader, but Silver just couldn't place what that something was.

"Well enough," Giovanni replied curtly. Silver hated how calm his tone of voice was. Did he even care about Karen at all?

"I've heard some incredible things about your girl, Giovanni," Pryce said, and Silver's eyes jumped to life as he listened more intently. "Your mother would be proud of her namesake."

"Indeed she would," Giovanni said. His dark eyes watched his son closely, and as Silver opened his mouth to speak, he hushed him with a raise of his hand. His son furrowed his brow in response, but eased back against the door. "Is there a reason why you felt the need to call me right after a meeting, Pryce? Have you learned something I haven't?"

Pryce chuckled lowly. "I only thought I would congratulate you on your daughter's progress," he said. "I know you sent her to the Academy with some trepidation, and I believe you have made the right decision. Karen is a competent trainer, and I believe that her time enrolled there will only serve to sharpen the skills she obviously inherited from you. I'll be stopping by the Academy sometime in the next few days to check in on my recruits. I would be happy to speak with Karen on your behalf, if you wish."

Giovanni visibly tensed. The fingers he'd kept drumming against the mahogany of his desk suddenly tightened around the edge of it. "I appreciate the offer," the man started, though the sudden harshness of his tone suggested he was anything but appreciative, "however, I can speak with her myself."

For a moment, there was silence. There was a noise on the other end of the line that made Silver's breath hang in his throat. It sounded like a cough, small and muffled, but distinctly female. It sounded like his mother. His eyes searched his father's face for any sign that told him he'd heard it, too, but Giovanni's face betrayed nothing.

"Is that all, Pryce?" Giovanni growled, sick of waiting for him to answer.

"Yes, sir. I hope—"

The line went dead as Giovanni slammed his phone down on the desk. He had little patience, and men like Pryce wore on what little of it he still had, especially following the events of the past week. Of course he missed Karen, of course he wanted her home, not there. He couldn't tell his son that, because he couldn't formulate it all into words. He'd never been able to. His two children were everything to him, even if they would never know it.

"He is so full of shit," Silver said, sighing and raking his fingers through the red of his hair. He looked at his father and almost pleaded, "Tell me you don't trust him."

"Of course I don't trust the old bastard. I never have," Giovanni said flatly, bringing his hands to his eyes and rubbing them tiredly. "We aren't in this business to trust people, son, and you know I don't trust anyone else with your sister. That's why I need to ask you a favor," he said, and Silver just nodded his head, waiting for him to continue. "I'm going out of town for a few days. After things have settled down and Karen has her placement, I need you to go and check on her for me. Make sure everything is all right."

As always he wasn't actually asking a favor, he was stating it, but Silver didn't care this time. He would do anything he needed to for Karen, and he wanted desperately to see her, even if it had only been a day and a half they'd been apart from one another. It bothered him that Giovanni wouldn't go and see her himself, but he tried to focus on the fact that he would be able to see her (and hopefully, the pretty brunette) instead. "Of course," Silver said, his voice a tone softer this time, the way it always was when he spoke of his baby sister.

He turned to walk out of the room, but something stopped him. That sound bounced around in his head still, mocking him. He could have sworn it was Ariana who had coughed on the other end of the line, but it was impossible… wasn't it? Silver hesitated at the door, and looked over his shoulder at his father. "Dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"Where is Mom?"

Giovanni looked surprised that he was even asking. "She's in Sinnoh," he said, arching an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing," Silver said quickly. He swallowed the words he wanted to say and walked out of his father's office, trying to push the sound to the back of his mind.

* * *

><p>The drive between Saffron City and Lavender Town was a short one, and the worry in Cynthia's voice had caused Jace to break enough speed limits that he got to their apartment in no time. She had just finished changing out of her pajamas when he walked through the front door, concern painting his features.<p>

"Is everything okay?" Jace asked, pulling the woman who might as well have been his sister into a light embrace. She was warm, and when she returned his hug, a strange melody hit his ears. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place why, so he shook the sound from his mind and tried to focus on why she'd called him home so early. He'd only just gotten to the gym when his phone went off with her call.

Cynthia chewed her lower lip and shook her head. "I feel like he's starting to slip away from us again." Lucian had always carried the brunt of the guilt over the years; this wouldn't be the first time he'd let it get away from him. "He had that dream again last night. He thinks it has something to do with Will."

Jace just nodded. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he'd had strange dreams for the past two nights, too. It was hard to call them nightmares when they were so fragmented, but they haunted him like one. They were swirls of color that danced a strange promenade, disconnected voices that sounded at once familiar and distant. Both mornings he'd woken up with a pounding headache, and the strange feeling that something—or someone—was intruding on his telepathic link. "I can try and talk to him," he said.

Cynthia smiled softly, nodding her head. She'd long ago resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't always enough to keep Lucian tethered to reality. She loved him dearly, but there was a bond between brothers that she knew she couldn't compete with, and she would never try.

Jace made to move down the hallway, but that strange sound floated through his mind again, and he hesitated. It hit him all at once where he'd heard it before. It was a few months ago. He kept hearing it every time he entered the gym, but he couldn't assign reason until one of the trainers he worked with announced she was having a baby. He'd been hearing the child's thoughts—or the beginnings of them, anyway. _But that means… _Jace blinked. "Um. Cynthia?"

"What is it?"

"I think you—um. I think you might be pregnant."

She stared back at him, dumbfounded, like he'd just told a joke that wasn't remotely funny. "W-What?" Cynthia choked out. "That's impossible."

"Apparently not," Jace scoffed. "The two of you have a hard time keeping your door shut. Thanks a lot for the other night, that was definitely something I wanted to s—"

"_JACE_!"

"Sorry. Sorry! I'm sorry," he stuttered. She was staring at him, waiting for an explanation, and he did his best to offer her one. "It happened at the gym few months ago. I read the baby's thoughts. They're not words, not really, it's more like a song. It's really beautiful. I-I think yours might be a boy. When I heard it at the gym, the baby was a girl. It sounded different." Jace offered her a light smile. He was doing his best to explain it all, but the shock on her face was apparent. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"No. No," Cynthia sighed, wrapping her arms around her middle. Could it really be true? Of course they hadn't been trying. She didn't even know if Lucian wanted a family, she didn't know if he could devote enough of himself to a baby, not the way his mind was. She felt sick to her stomach, but she didn't know if it was from the shock of it all, or from the little one she didn't realize she was having. "Arceus," she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper.

"It's going to be okay. Okay? Look, I'll go talk to Lucian and—"

Cynthia cut him off. "You can't tell him!"

"I won't," Jace said, "but I can't stop him from reading your mind."

"Just-just try and get through to him. Please."

Jace nodded and hugged her again, then made his way to the office where she'd told him he would find his big brother. He couldn't help but feel a little excited about the baby. Their family deserved happiness, and maybe a little life was exactly what the three of them needed. He thought that 'Uncle Jace' had a pretty nice ring to it, but then he thought of his twin, and he hesitated before entering the room.

He hated how little he remembered of Will. They were only three when he was taken away, so of course he didn't have many memories to cling to. Even if he couldn't remember much, he could feel, every day, the place in his heart that only Will could fill. He'd been so close to him, or so everyone had told him. They were inseparable up until that fateful day. Jace couldn't remember it, but he didn't want to go, either; he didn't want to leave his brother, even if it meant having fun at Cynthia's party. And he had no idea what his fate might have been if he had been there with his father and twin brother.

"Luc?" Jace called out as he entered the room. Of the three Sullivan boys, he was the odd one out. He shared his tall, lanky build and light skin with Lucian, but their physical similarities ended there. Jace took after his mother, with her warm brown hair and intense blue eyes; Lucian and Will both inherited their father's purple tresses and eyes. Mentally, Jace and Lucian were both gifted with telepathy and telekinesis, just like their mother before them. Jace was a little more adept when it came to controlling his psychic abilities, but it was because he channeled so much of himself into honing them. It was his escape, his way to divert his attention from something bad and onto something productive. "You've got your girlfriend freaking out over you," he said, trying to break the unease in the air. "What's going on?"

Lucian sighed and shook his head, spinning away from the chair so that he was facing Jace and not the computer screen he'd been staring at all morning. He looked at his brother and hesitated. Jace and Will weren't identical, but he saw similarities in them that no one else did. They had the same smile, the same eye shape, the same temperament. It was enough that sometimes just looking at Jace made Lucian's struggle that much harder, but even when the resemblance was hard for him to handle, he found in his brother strength that sometimes he didn't remember he had.

"I had the dream again, too," Jace said, speaking the words that Lucian couldn't get to form. He didn't need to read his brother's mind to know what he was going to say next. "I don't know what it means."

"Will is out there somewhere. I know he is," Lucian said. He pushed himself up out of his chair and stretched for the first time in hours. "We have to find him, Jace."

Jace nodded. "And we will. I know we will. But making Cynthia freak out isn't going to help any of us, so how about we all go eat breakfast? You're looking scrawnier than ever, I think you could use a good meal."

"You're one to talk," Lucian shot back, and a smile traced the curve of his lips. It didn't last long. It never did. He struggled to be happy, because guilt just followed after. "If I would have just—"

"Don't." Jace's voice took on a sharp edge. He knew exactly what came after those words, and he wouldn't let him speak another of them. "We were kids, Lucian. We didn't know any better. Will would have done the same thing."

"No, he wouldn't have. Neither of you would have. You guys were always happy and calm. You never got upset over anything," Lucian sighed. "I was the selfish one."

"Luc, you were seven, you weren't—"

The cell phone Lucian had left on his desk suddenly lit up, and buzzed loudly against the wood. Jace glimpsed the number on the caller ID and bit his lip as his brother picked up the call with a shaky, "Hello? Yes, this is—is she okay? What's wrong with her?"

Jace felt his chest constrict as he watched his brother's expression change with the words that came over the other end of the line.

"Yes, he's with me, too. We'll be right there. Thank you," Lucian said, letting the phone drop from his ear with a shaky hand.

"Lucian?"

"Mom's really upset," he said, all in one breath. "She wants to see us."


End file.
